SOHO spacecraft captured comet C/2023 A3 during a powerful solar flare
October 10, 2024
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Nothing makes a photo more interesting than when something unexpected pops up in the background. This is exactly what has been happening in space lately. The spacecraft used
Nothing makes a photo more interesting than when something unexpected pops up in the background. This is exactly what has been happening in space lately. The spacecraft used to observe the Sun – the SOHO observatory (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory), which collects data on the activity of our star – was monitoring a solar flare when a brightly lit object suddenly appeared in the frame. It turned out to be comet C/2023 A3 (Jizinshan — ATLAS).
The “head” or coma of C/2023 A3 extends about 209,000 kilometers and its tail is about 29 million kilometers long. Therefore, the comet remains in SOHO’s field of view for several days.
C/2023 A3 will make its closest approach to our planet on October 12, 2024, at a distance of approximately 0.47 AU, or approximately 70.6 million kilometers. The comet will be bright enough for Earth residents to observe with the naked eye.
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